Academics

Grants

M. Thandi Buthelezi (PI, Assistant Professor of Chemistry), John Collins (Professor of Physics), and Xuesheng Chen (Professor of Physics) were awarded a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation entiltled "MRI: Acquisition of a Pulsed Laser/Detection System for Time-Resolved Studies of Molecular Complexes". This is a 3-year award beginning August, 2011 in the amount of $255,865. (Award number CHE-1126337)

John Collins (Professor of Physics) received a "Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI)" award from the National Science Foundation entitled: "RUI: Investigation of Metal-to-Metal Charge Transfer States in Rare Earth Ion-Doped Solids". This is a three year grant beginning September, 2011 in the amount of $264,776. (Award number DMR-1105907)

Bob Morris, Associate Professor of Biology, and his lab were awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Institutes for Childhood Health and Development at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for their research entitled: "Roles of Cilia and Mechanisms of Ciliogenesis in Animal Development" (2009 - 2012).

Rachelle DeCoste, Asst. Professor of Mathematics, and colleagues at the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the United States Military Academy, the Summer Math Program at Carleton College and the EDGE Program received additional funding for the The Career Mentoring Workshop (CaMeW) from the MAA/Tensor Grant Foundation.

Mark LeBlanc, Professor of Computer Science, Drout, M. (Prof. of English) and Kahn, M. (Prof. of Statistics) were awarded $47,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities NEH HD-50300-08 for their interdisciplinary work on "Pattern Recognition through Computational Stylistics: Old English and Beyond" (July 2008 - June 2010).

Geoff Collins, Associate Professor of Geology, was awarded $170,000 from NASA for his work "Evolution of Fluvial Landscapes on Titan: Channel Erosion, Sediment Generation, and Methane Infiltration" (2007-2010).

Geoff Collins, Associate Professor of Geology, was awarded $66,000 from NASA for his work "Strain on the Saturnian Satellites" (2007-2009).

Geoff Collins, Associate Professor of Geology, was awarded $30,000 from NASA for his work "Investigations into CO2 and other Materials on the Saturnian and Galilean Satellites" (2007-2009)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sea Grant program awarded Chemistry Professor Jani Benoit and her research partner, Professor David H. Shull of Western Washington University, nearly $100,000 to collect and analyze coastal sediment samples.

Geoff Collins, Associate Professor of Geology, was awarded $64,000 from NASA for his work "Global Analysis of Grooved Terrain Tectonics on Ganymede" (2005-2007)

Xuescheng Chen, Professor of Physics, was awarded $240,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy for her work "Optical laser ceramic materials research"

Geoff Collins, Associate Professor of Geology, was awarded $35,000 from NASA for his work "Fusion and Analysis of Data from the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) and Solid State Imager (SSI) through GIS" (2006-2009).

The group spearheaded by mathematics professors Bill Goldbloom-Bloch, Tommy Ratliff, and Michael Kahn, who also serves as Wheaton's director of quantitative analysis won a grant of $99,500 from the Teagle Foundation to expand the reach of quantitative analysis (QA) in the college's multidisciplinary curriculum.

Timothy Barker (Astronomy) received a grant from the American Astronomical Society for the project entitled "A Telescope and CCD Camera for the Wheaton College Australian Observatory".

Timothy Barker (Astronomy) received a grant from NASA SpaceGrant to support astronomy imaging software purchase and implementation as well as funding for astronomy field trip to New Mexico.

Betsey Dyer (Biology) and Mark LeBlanc (Math/Computer Science) received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to disseminate genomics/bioinformatics curriculum materials over a two year period.

Barbara Brennessel (Biology) received a grant from the Sounds Conservancy to study emerging hatchlings from protected terrapin nests in Indian Neck and Griffin Island in Wellfleet, MA.

Xuesheng Chen (Physics) received a grant from the National Science Foundation for her work with high-powered lasers.

The Vernal Pool Research Team received a grant from Merck/AAAS.

Laura Muller (Chemistry) received a grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation for an infrared microscope.

Robert Morris (Biology) and Geoff Collins (Physics/Astronomy) received a grant from the NSF for the development of a digital imaging center.